Am I to understand people here aren't talking about the new Gang Starr record?

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agree with johnny. plus, the stalwart refusal to acknowledge that the last five years happened is one of the reasons this is one of my favourite albums of right now. no it's not as good as albums 2 to 4 but so what ?

― kieron, Saturday, 26 July 2003 05:25 (twenty-two years ago)

If I'd heard it and loved it I wouldn't talk about it on ILM, where pop-hop rules the roost. There's another old-school MC whose new album fucking slays but I'm just enjoying it in silence so as to avoid accusations of corniness, rockism, etc

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Saturday, 26 July 2003 05:28 (twenty-two years ago)

please tell...

― kieron, Saturday, 26 July 2003 05:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Jemini The Gifted One, surely? Or Aceyalone.

― JoB (JoB), Saturday, 26 July 2003 08:06 (twenty-two years ago)

if it's Mix-a-Lot
that J0hn D speaks highly of
then he's fuckin' right

― Haikunym, Saturday, 26 July 2003 13:00 (twenty-two years ago)

as for new Gang Starr:
they aim for respect not LOVE
very Brechtian

― Haikunym, Saturday, 26 July 2003 13:04 (twenty-two years ago)

a refusal to acknowledge the last five years of hip hop? what shitty reviewer did you pick that up from?

simple: gangstarr has a style.

― john0000000000000000, Monday, 28 July 2003 08:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I really hope John's talking about the new Keith Murray album, which pretty much destroys the new Gang Starr.

― Tom Breihan (Tom Breihan), Monday, 28 July 2003 14:30 (twenty-two years ago)

john yr straw men are burning

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 28 July 2003 14:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Def Jux kids pretentious? Explain.

John ain't talking about the new Aceyalone, because it's not very good. Keith Murray? Possibly. Haven't heard his new one yet. Couldn't be PMD (whose new album "features EPMD"...??!?!?)

Daily Operation, while easily Gang Starr's finest, is hardly without it's clunkers. "Mostly Tha Voice" comes to mind.

― roger adultery, Monday, 28 July 2003 16:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Def Jux kids pretentious? Explain.

Well, I guess we're assuming that you agree with me that Def Jux is, to one degree or another, "ruined." (This is not, of course, unilaterally true.) But there's a high level of "We are not fun! We are not listenable! We are innovative!" in a lot of the Jukies work. Which wouldn't be bad if a lot of it weren't so unfun and unlistenable.

simple: gangstarr has a style.

That's true, and it's a style I quite like. But it's also true that there's no practical need for me to have as many Gang Starr records as I do -- except for a tendency to slow down and simplify as time has gone on, they sound almost exactly the same as they did nearly 15 years ago. There's nothing wrong with that, exactly, but my point is that the rhetoric that surrounds the aesthetic is stupid in the extreme.

― Ess, Monday, 28 July 2003 16:52 (twenty-two years ago)

But there's a high level of "We are not fun! We are not listenable! We are innovative!" in a lot of the Jukies work.

Let me guess: you've heard one, no, two Aesop Rock songs and that I Phantom album-ending posse cut about nuclear apocalypse.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Monday, 28 July 2003 22:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Perhaps J0hn is speaking of the recent KRS One album?

― JS Williams (js williams), Monday, 28 July 2003 22:33 (twenty-two years ago)

There's a recent KRS-One album? And nobody told me?

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Monday, 28 July 2003 22:39 (twenty-two years ago)

(then again, I am reading the lyrics via ohhla.com and er um oh. Man. Uh...)

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Monday, 28 July 2003 22:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Mostly the Voice was on Hard to Earn...and that beat is one of my favs.

― oops (Oops), Monday, 28 July 2003 22:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Perhaps J0hn is speaking of the recent KRS One album?

Ding ding ding ding ding! We have a winnah!

Nate get your ass off ohhla and listen to the record, it's completely completely great

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 28 July 2003 23:37 (twenty-two years ago)

"I rap about G-O-D/it's you that's frontin', not me" from the opening track singlehandedly relieved me of the terrible disappointment I'd had when Kris got born again

NB this is one of only a sprinkling of religio-ish lines on the record, which is part of why it's good

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 28 July 2003 23:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Let me guess: you've heard one, no, two Aesop Rock songs and that I Phantom album-ending posse cut about nuclear apocalypse.

Naw. If anything, I'm responding more to older stuff -- Funcrusher, etc. -- and, aside from Rj and Can Ox (both of which are really great), it seems pretty obvious to me that the Def Jux crowd is kind of fun-averse. (Well, there's some punchline-heavy guys like Murs, but maybe he's not fun to me.) Especially when you put them against comparable work like the Stone's Throw crowd or even the Automator's stuff, the Jukie aesthetic is just too ahhhhhtistic for my tastes.

― Ess, Tuesday, 29 July 2003 13:07 (twenty-two years ago)

there's some punchline-heavy guys like Murs, but maybe he's not fun to me

Murs got Humpty Hump to guest on his album = he is Fun Itself

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Tuesday, 29 July 2003 14:37 (twenty-two years ago)

humpty hump is BACK
he guests on mix-a-lot too;
get looptid again!

― Haikunym, Tuesday, 29 July 2003 14:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Murs got Humpty Hump to guest on his album

Whoah. Whoah. How was I not informed of this? What have I been doing with my life? This changes everything.

― Ess, Tuesday, 29 July 2003 14:46 (twenty-two years ago)

I, Phantom has moments of fun mixed with moments of gravitas and little real "pretension" unless you make the mistake of glomming onto how expositional the liner notes are; any album that contains a song with the line "dead boss/somebody call Red Cross" is hellafied fun. Amidst all the beatnikularity of Fantastic Damage there's plenty of subtle (and unsubtle) humor/actin' retarded to ease the brunt ("when I strap on the blue cardigan we can be neighbors/DUDE, LASERS!"). And I've heard SA Smash called lots of things, but "artsy" wasn't one of them.

But oh dear lord stay AWAY from PFAC.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Tuesday, 29 July 2003 22:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Daily Operation, while easily Gang Starr's finest, is hardly without it's clunkers. "Mostly Tha Voice" comes to mind.

Yes, oops was right, that was on Hard to Earn.

That beat ... YUM. Shuffling, swanky, and that bass line is DEEP.

― tk, Wednesday, 30 July 2003 06:14 (twenty-two years ago)

That Humpty Hump guest has a great bass line but don't expect too much: It's a Risky Business knockoff!

My date tonight told me a great Guru story, but I don't have permission to retell it yet, and it involves a gun...

― Pete Scholtes, Wednesday, 30 July 2003 06:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I agree that Gang Starr's 'keep it real' ethic (& ditto aesthetic) can be extremely pointless and tiring. But that said, the new album ROCKS! I think that the beats are among Premo's best, and certainly better than most of the stuff on 'Monment Of Truth'. Especially the 'Put Up Or Shut Up' bassline's got me, and the production of 'Skillz' ( almost a 'Full Clip' II) is luvly.
I do recofnize the argument that not much water, if any, has passed under the bridge for the duo for the last many years. But hey, Tony Bennett still rocks, too. And Van Morrison. So view, if you will, Gang Starr as an oldies act that still knows how to roll the dice even thougn they don't really develop any more.

― Jay K (Jay K), Wednesday, 30 July 2003 08:11 (twenty-two years ago)

sixteen years pass...

???

― j., Tuesday, 5 November 2019 02:19 (six years ago)

it's surprisingly good

― corrs unplugged, Tuesday, 5 November 2019 10:20 (six years ago)

whiney's review is good!

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/gang-star-one-of-the-best-yet-review-907757/

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 15:55 (six years ago)

so good to hear Jeru again

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 17:17 (six years ago)

it was fine, but it inspired me to revisit the ownerz, which is way better than i remembered

― kanye kendrick frank kendrick frank kanye (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 17:20 (six years ago)

xp and group home guy

― j., Tuesday, 5 November 2019 17:20 (six years ago)

huh I didn't even notice Jeru

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 17:21 (six years ago)

yeah that's a fine review good work Whiney

― Xia Nu del Vague (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 17:22 (six years ago)

richard pryor sample on the last track is a+

― budo jeru, Tuesday, 5 November 2019 21:06 (six years ago)

This is great until J Cole appears.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, 5 November 2019 23:17 (six years ago)

yeah that's exactly when i turned the record off then put on the ownerz instead lol

― kanye kendrick frank kendrick frank kanye (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 23:26 (six years ago)

Lil' Fame & Billy Danze, national treasures

Yo, a wise man once said, "Fuck what a wise man said"
Bitch, gimme that bag otherwise y'all dead

......

Now fuck who ya crew is
fuck what the true is
Gang Starr forever
fuck what the new is

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 17:26 (six years ago)

I'm not a J Cole fan but his verse is fine

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 17:34 (six years ago)

i never listen to j cole so i don't recognize him when he comes on, win/win

― j., Wednesday, 6 November 2019 17:54 (six years ago)

Tom was wrong as hell itt

― ILX’s bad boy (D-40), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 18:34 (six years ago)

thanks, guys!

― The Mandymoorian (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 18:40 (six years ago)

I really hope John's talking about the new Keith Murray album, which pretty much destroys the new Gang Starr.

tbf this is a hilarious challop

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 6 November 2019 18:50 (six years ago)

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